The London bombings and the Iraq war

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge’s piece, “After London, Britain’s doubts” (Opinion, July 26), comes close to suggesting that many here consider that the July bombings were our fault. I doubt it. The view of most is that the bombings were evil, and no grievance -- however well founded -- could justify or excuse them.

As to Iraq, it is implausible that this was not a motivating factor with at least some of the bombers or their accomplices, even if it was not the only or most important. The honorable response to this (which Tony Blair has not made, preferring to deny the connection) is that the prospect of stirring up fanatics must not deter us from doing what is right. The trouble is that many consider the war to have been wrong: immoral and illegal. The bombings remove even pragmatic justification for the war: It did not make us safer. It may well be right, even if the invasion was wrong, to remain in Iraq as long as we can be of use in dealing with the consequences. This is a separate issue and generally recognized as such.

Peter Emery

London